Each fall the University of Wisconsin-Superior Alumni Association honors outstanding alumni, faculty, staff and community members. They represent, through their personal and professional accomplishments, the lasting value of the university and the Alumni Association. The awards are presented at the annual appreciation dinner, which is hosted by the UW-Superior Foundation and Alumni Association. This year’s dinner will be held on Thursday, September 26.
The Distinguished Alumni Award is presented to alumni of UW-Superior whose success serves as an inspiration for current and prospective students. This year’s recipient is Eryca Card.
Card graduated from UW-Superior in 2000, double majoring in elementary education and psychology and minoring in elementary education-science and criminal justice. She is currently a sixth-grade science teacher at Elkhorn Area Middle School. She also serves as the preschool-eighth-grade Project Lead The Way (PLTW) coordinator for the Elkhorn Area School District, and is a master teacher and training success manager for PLTW. In addition to her teaching position, she also is an advisor for her school’s STEM Club, sits on the AVID Instructional Team, is a member of the school’s grading committee, and is a coach for the seventh and eighth grade Fluid Power Teams, which have won awards in the last two years of competition.
Pamela Adie is the recipient of the Young Alumni Achievement Award, which is presented to alumni of UW-Superior who have graduated within the last 15 years and are under the age of 40. They will also have had significant accomplishments in one or more of the following categories: Professional Achievement, Published Research, Innovation, or Creativity in Profession, Community Engagement, Global or Intercultural Experience, Personal Achievement, and Demonstrates and Supports UW-Superior’s Vision, Mission and Goals.
Adie earned her undergraduate degree in business administration, with concentrations in finance and management, from UW-Superior in 2006. She has also earned a Master of Business Administration and a master’s degree in non-profit management. Adie currently serves as the executive director at The Equality Hub. She is also a photographer, an LGBT rights advocate, a writer and a filmmaker. In her just-released feature documentary film, “Under The Rainbow,” which is Nigeria’s first lesbian-focused documentary Adie shows what it is to be homosexual in an unforgivingly homophobic society like Nigeria.
The Honorary Alumni Award is presented to a person who is not an alumni of UW-Superior, whose success serves as an inspiration for current and prospective students. This year’s recipient is Tom Bergh.
A lifelong Hermantown resident, and a 1979 graduate of Hermantown High School, Bergh was appointed as UW-Superior’s alumni director in August 2001. Over the next 16 years, Bergh worked with the Alumni Association to build connections with alumni and students. This included organizing an average of 30 national events annually, creating 21 alumni chapters nationally and internationally, and creating an alumni worldwide travel program. Bergh was also charged with overseeing the Hall of Fame Induction process in collaboration with the Athletics Department. He took part in creating a nationwide board of directors for the Alumni Association, connecting students with alumni through networking events and in the classroom, and coordinating UW-Superior’s legislative advocacy efforts to encourage support for UW-Superior’s building projects and overall budget. In 2017, Bergh was appointed to the position of development officer for the UW-Superior Foundation, working to obtain major gift support from alumni and businesses.
William “Pope” Wright, Jr., is the recipient of the James Rainaldo Mentor Award. This award recognizes current and retired UW-Superior faculty or staff members who have touched the lives of current and former UW-Superior students in a unique and significant way.
Professor, artist and mentor to a countless number of students at UW-Superior, Wright passed away on July 22, 2015. He began teaching at UW-Superior in 1971, and was a member of the campus community for 44 years. Wright was also the first Black Student Union faculty advisor and Indian Student advisor on campus and the first African-American professor at the university. In 1983, he was named the director of the Minority Affairs Office, and was known for always finding time for students of all backgrounds and cultures. He is survived by his wife Sandra, who was a dedicated educator as well. In November, UW-Superior’s Multicultural Center was formally named for Wright.
